Guildford railway station

A 1912 Railway Clearing House map of lines around Guildford railway station

The station was opened by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) on 5 May 1845,[2] but was substantially enlarged and rebuilt in 1880.

The Reading, Guildford and Reigate Railway opened its services on 4 July 1849, and was operated by the South Eastern Railway.[2] LSWR services to Farnham via Tongham began on 8 October 1849 and the New Guildford Line to Leatherhead and Epsom Downs on 2 February 1885.[2] On the latter line is the other Guildford station, London Road. The line to it describes a curve around the town on an embankment, crossing the River Wey by a high bridge.

Guildford station was also the northern terminus of the, now-closed, Cranleigh Line which was opened 2 October 1865 by the London Brighton and South Coast Railway and closed almost one hundred years later on 12 June 1965.[3] This line ran to Horsham by way of Cranleigh, Rudgwick and Christ's Hospital.

• On 8 November 1952, an electric multiple unit suffered a brake malfunction approaching the station. It overran signals and collided with a stationary steam locomotive. Two people were killed and 37 were injured.[4]
• On 28 July 1971, a parcels train was derailed at the station.[5]
• On 7 July 2017, an explosion occurred in an underframe equipment case of unit 455901 at Guildford station. Debris was thrown up to 230 feet (70 m) away with fragments, described as "quite sizeable" by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch, scattered across platforms and an adjacent car park.[6] No injuries occurred. The cause of the explosion was a faulty capacitor which had been fitted when the units' electrical equipment was upgraded.[7]

Guildford railway station in 1989.

Looking towards the west from platform 2.

Platforms 6 and 7 serve the same single line.

Guildford Locomotive Depot 1965

An ex-Network SouthEast EMU operated by South West Trains at Guildford station in 2000.

The main station buildings are on the Down side. At the end of the Down side platform is a bay for the New Guildford Line. There are now three islands with seven platform faces plus the bay linked by both a long footbridge and a subway. Platforms 6 and 7 are opposite sides of the same line: these were used for unloading mail and parcels until the mid-1990s. The station was completely rebuilt (except for the platforms) by British Rail in the late 1980s.

• Platform 1 – Bay platform for stopping services to London Waterloo via Epsom or Cobham
• Platform 2 – Stopping services to London Waterloo via Cobham
• Platform 3 – Stopping services to London Waterloo via Woking [Small number of weekday services. Otherwise Sundays only]
• Platform 4 – Fast and stopping services towards Portsmouth; semi-fast services to Gatwick Airport
• Platform 5 – Fast services to London Waterloo
• Platform 6 – Stopping services to Redhill and services to Ascot or Farnham via Aldershot depart from either this platform or platform 8
• Platform 7 – Platform not in use
• Platform 8 – Services to Reading. Services to Ascot via Aldershot depart from either this platform or platform 6.

Platforms 6 and 7 are on opposite sides of the same single line. Automatic train doors only open on the platform 6 side. Today doors are not opened on platform 7 due to the live rail being on that side, hence rendering that platform disused. Platform 6 is signalled for bi-directional working – trains may approach from either direction.

Guildford station was the site of an important motive power depot opened by the LSWR in 1845. The original building was demolished in 1887 to make room for the enlargement of the station, and was replaced by a semi-roundhouse which was substantially enlarged in 1897. This was closed and demolished in 1967.[8] The Farnham Road multi-storey car park was built on the site in 1988.[9]

Guildford station was to have been the southern terminus for the proposed Heathrow Airtrack rail service. The project, promoted by BAA, envisaged the construction of a spur from the Waterloo to Reading Line to Heathrow Airport, creating direct rail links from the airport to Guildford, Waterloo, Woking and Reading. Airtrack was planned to open in 2015, subject to government approval.[10] In April 2011, BAA announced that it was abandoning the project,[11] citing the unavailability of government subsidy and other priorities for Heathrow,[12] such as linking to Crossrail and High Speed 2.

Class 206 3R unit, on a North Downs Line service, showing the pre-rebuild station. (June 1979)

Southern Region steam in 1965 in Guildford.

4Cig in 1980 in Guildford.

Guildford is served regularly by trains operated by South Western Railway and Great Western Railway.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[13]

• 3 tph to London Waterloo via Woking (fast)
• 2 tph to London Waterloo via Cobham (stopping)
• 1 tph to London Waterloo via Epsom (stopping)
• 1 tph to Haslemere (stopping)
• 2 tph to Portsmouth Harbour (1 fast, 1 stopping)
• 2 tph to Farnham
• 2 tph to Reading (1 semi-fast, 1 stopping)
• 1 tph to Redhill (stopping)
• 1 tph to Gatwick Airport (semi-fast)

Services at Guildford are operated using a mixture of rolling stock including classes: 444, 450 and 455 EMUs, and Class 165 and 166 DMUs. South Western Railway is replacing their Class 455 EMUs with Class 701 "Arterio" EMUs, meaning that these new trains will stop at Guildford station in the future.[14]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Worplesdon		South Western Railway Portsmouth Direct Line Stopping Services		Farncombe
Woking		South Western Railway Portsmouth Direct Line Fast Services		Godalming
London Road (Guildford)		South Western Railway New Guildford Line Mole Valley Line		Terminus
Wanborough		South Western Railway Ascot to Guildford Line
North Camp		Great Western Railway North Downs Line Semi-Fast Services		Dorking Deepdene
Ash		Great Western Railway North Downs Line Stopping Services		Shalford
Wanborough Limited Service
	Disused railways
Terminus		London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Horsham and Guildford Direct Railway		Bramley & Wonersh Line and station closed

Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Guildford railway station.

• Photos of Guildford station
• Train times and station information for Guildford railway station from National Rail

51.237°N 0.580°W / 51.237; -0.580